tale_of_zulfandomcom-20200213-history
Prologue
(< Previous Chapter) - (Next Chapter >) … Through the deadwood, five figures walked. They talked amongst each other, complaining about how sore their legs were, complaining about the cold, and about how the air burned their mouths. Leading the group was a man dressed half in black and half in white, his face painted those same colors, but opposite his robes. To his right a pale man in black robes. To his left another man, dark-skinned and in white robes. Behind them were two men in grey robes holding wooden beams. They each held chains dragging along behind them, rising up attached to the black horn of a great wooly rhino. Besides the beast walked a great black warhorse, wearing a white gas-mask. The eyes of the rhino were beady and black, staring off inattentively. It was breathing loudly, suddenly paused, and inhaled sharply before sneezing. This caused one of the grey men holding the chains, the taller of the two, to accidentally drop his beams into the mud. "Cursed beast," he muttered, picking up the beams with a sigh. The rhino continued along, smacking its lips loudly. "A storm is coming, eh Naya?" asked the pale man up ahead, turning back, and looking at the tall man's beams, then at the wooly rhino and the masked horse, and then up at the grey sky above. His eyes, too, were grey. "Might be, God willing we'll not be mired by rainfall in the middle of this... beautiful countryside," he said sarcastically, scanning the derelict landscape surrounding them. "Considering we're in the Hand, might be this place was once a swamp..." "If you think this bone dry place is swampy might be you've never been to Flotch! If we're lucky, the storm'll start after we're done." "God's fires are not quenched so easily, Tonos," said the short man beside Naya. "This is hallowed," the men up ahead said together, not missing a beat. "Ha!" Tonos laughed, "always the pious ones!" "Aye they are," Naya said. Despite their robes, he and Tonos were both members of the Order of White Priests. Ostensibly peace-lovers, holding high the values of calmness, and serenity, standing in stark opposition to the Black Priests, who hold ritual and piety almost above everything else. With the exception of worship through violence. Looking up ahead, Tonos said "well, it looks like we've come upon it." They walked into a sandy clearing, ending their months-long journey. They walked just a bit more, arriving on a hill overlooking a maze-like canyon. The men with the beams raised them up high, and then down low, driving them into the sand. An animal skin painted white was slung across two of the beams, and one painted black across the other two. The horse dug at the sand with its gas-mask. The dark man in the white robes set some candles down on the floor, and went to his bag to reach for containers of black liquid. He turned around, and said "make sure the poor beasts can't see the fire, don't want to spook them." He waited a few moments for his fellow grey priests to turn them both around, lit the candles, backed up several paces, and threw the glass containers into the candles. They smashed, lighting a great fire. "So this is blachumor, huh, Durr?" "Aye, the most explosive substance known to humankind, but only in its liquid form," the dark man said. The fire flickered with supernatural energy. shining green and blue, then red and white. The priests gazed into the flames for a moment. The horse made a fearful noise, and the rhino let out a long drawn out sound. They had cuts its throat, and its blood was pouring into a wooden bucket. "We ought hurry, brothers, moon's just about risin', looks to me that Tonos' storms about to start," said Naya to Durr. They were both foreign men, from a foreign land, come here to worship a dark god. "Aye, you're right. Rhino's throats been slit..." Tonos said motioning at the short grey priest, who was holding the blood bucket. Durr smiled sadly, then looked off at the nervous horse. "The High Grey has entrusted us with a great duty. But that horse's gonna have an even harder time getting us out of here when we're done. Poor bastard... best finish this up quickly, then. Any of you have words to say before we start?" "None. Sides prayers, of course," said Naya. He coughed, the poison in the air beginning to bother him greatly. "Of course, course, brother. Xermos, you's wanna start us off?" "You honor me," said the priest in black and white. 'Don't know why this unfriendly prick's been given the honor,' Naya thought privately. They gathered into a formation in front of the flames of the fire. "Well... let us begin: "God of the Night, God of the Starlight, The Shadow & The Shine The Dragon-Beneath-this-Earth, Him who made us to kill, rape, break, steal, and lie, Him who made us to heal, love, give, grieve, and believe, Sing to Us All the Song of Creation, that great rattle, And we shall hallow your name, Calthoss." "Hallowed be this name," they said, not missing a beat. They approached the fire, whispering these words: "Deceit." "Discord." "Honor." "Sacrifice." More than a beat passed, and a priest nudged another with his elbow, whispering angrily "you're supposed to say 'hope' now" only to be met with silence. A moment passed, and he said "despair." "Blasphemy!" He ripped off his own skin, and robes, throwing them to the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand and ash. He grew into a tall elegant figure, made of starlight and the night. The bucket of blood went rolling down the hill. The horse ran, screaming in fear. All the while the creature made an otherworldly noise. The other priests had scarce time to shout "wahk," "skinstealer," "fogman," and "run" before it tore into one of their backs. Another priest howled in agony, his blood splattering across the sandy ground. It tore into his flesh, ripping him open. One priest looked on in fear, and then he looked on no more. Only the deadwood saw. The last priest invoked the mercy of another god. "Ginoş, g-g-ginoş, my goddess ginoş, p-please!" Apparently he abandoned Calthoss in his final moments. The fogman strung their corpses up on the wooden beams, where they were held up by the painted skins. In an accent thicker than blood he bellowed "open on Haunted Isle." His black eyes stood out against the white fire, sitting above a featureless face. The fire roared up the beams, beginning to burn and break their bodies. "Bring forth the tallmen,' bring forth a storm',' bring forth the King Clad in Black'," he said, raising up his slender arms, lighter than air. He sang the song of the world and the smoke began spinning wildly, becoming solid, and twisting into an unnatural shape. Black swirls gathered together, forming a tunnel into some unseen space glowing purple. He slipped into the tunnel. High above in the grey clouds, a large black star encircled by red tendrils of lightning was shining dully. To guide here the faithful. To guide them to another world. (< Previous Chapter) - (Next Chapter >) Category:Tale of Zul Category:Chapters